Santa Barbara County Air Pollution Control District opens new Santa Maria office to help increase regional presence

SANTA MARIA, Calif. - After years of preparation, Santa Barbara County Air Pollution Control District (APCD) recently opened its long-planned new North County headquarters in Santa Maria.

"This is a landmark for the Air Pollution Control District," said Aeron Arlin Genet, APCD Executive Direction/Air Pollution Control Officer. "We've been working out of Santa Maria, but not in our own building and this establishes a strong foothold for us in the community, for our staff, for the sources that we regulate and for the general public that we serve."

The sleek modern-looking two-story building is located on West McCoy Lane and replaces a much smaller office the agency occupied that was located in the downtown area close to the Santa Maria Town Center mall.

"We have great space to conduct meetings, workshops, organize with other non-profit organizations to hold functions here at our facility," said Arlin Genet. "In addition to housing our staff and our office needs, we also have a lab so we can work with our monitoring and our enforcement equipment to ensure that they're all in proper working functions, so we can then enable them out into the field."

APCD purchased the building in 2021, and according to an agency release, remodeled with it sustainable concepts in mind that include, metal-insulated siding and roofing panels to provide a highly insulated building; dual-glazed windows that reflect heat and provide an improved weather seal, heat pumps for heating and cooling, Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) with Minimum Efficiency Reporting Value (MERV) 13 filters for clean indoor air quality and Clean Air Center capability, thermostats in each room to minimize energy use, skylights to increase natural light; and high-efficiency LED lighting throughout.

"This building was a significant investment for the air district," said Arlin Genet. "We were able to invest not only for the district itself, but for our staff, but more importantly for the community that we serve. We want to be local. We want to be present. We want to be top of the mind. When you have air quality questions or concerns, you know where we are and you can come in and talk to us in person or online. We have online resources available at ourair.org."